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Dying Village: What the last inhabitants of Lützerath are planning

2023-01-01T11:15:50.352Z


Dying Village: What the last inhabitants of Lützerath are planning Created: 01/01/2023 12:08 p.m By: Peter Seven None of the original farm residents are left in Lützerath. Today climate activists occupy the hamlet. © Peter Seven Not much is left of Lützerath at the Garzweiler opencast mine. But the place is still inhabited – albeit illegally. Erkelenz - Villages are dying fast. At least in re


Dying Village: What the last inhabitants of Lützerath are planning

Created: 01/01/2023 12:08 p.m

By: Peter Seven

None of the original farm residents are left in Lützerath.

Today climate activists occupy the hamlet.

© Peter Seven

Not much is left of Lützerath at the Garzweiler opencast mine.

But the place is still inhabited – albeit illegally.

Erkelenz - Villages are dying fast.

At least in relation to their lifespan.

Let's take Borschemich: generations of people built farms, castles, schools and churches here for a good 1200 years.

Then the place disappeared into a pit, and demolition only took a few years.

Lützerath is to give way to the Garzweiler opencast mine

This has happened to many villages in the Rhenish lignite mining area in recent decades.

Five years ago, Borschemich had to give way to the Garzweiler opencast mine of the energy company RWE, which wants the lignite underground.

Lützerath is yet to face this fate, reports 24RHEIN.

The hamlet that belongs to the town of Erkelenz has also had a long life:

  • The place was first mentioned in 1168 as "Lutzelenrode".

    It is quite possible that the hamlet was created during the Frankish conquest in the early Middle Ages - and people were probably already working here in Roman times.

  • Several farms and noble estates formed the core of Lützerath.

  • The people of Lützerath have been farming for centuries.

  • The Duissener Hof or Wachtmeisterhof belonged to the Cistercian monastery in Duisburg-Duissern between 1265 and 1802.

  • Most recently, the farm was run by the farmer Eckhardt Heukamp.

    In 2022 he moved away, he is considered the last resident of Lützerath.

Is Lützerath still inhabited?

The village was always small: around 100 people lived in Lützerath.

Because the hamlet has to give way to the Garzweiler opencast mine, Lützerath is to be demolished: Many houses have already been demolished, the resettlement of the former population is considered complete, and in 2022 the last farmer from Lützerath, Eckhard Heukamp, ​​moved away.

Officially, the population of the village is zero.

But the place is still inhabited.

This is what the abandoned villages around Lützerath look like today

View photo gallery

Who lives in Lützerath?

Environmental activists settled in Lützerath as early as 2020, many of whom initially lived as subtenants.

Now they occupy the village.

Up to 150 people stay here, sometimes more, sometimes less.

At the end of 2022, around 80 people live in abandoned courtyards, tents and specially built tree houses.

The fact that they live here is illegal: in December, the district of Heinsberg published a general decree for the evacuation of the occupied village: anyone who is still in Lützerath is acting illegally.

The district thus becomes an extended arm of the NRW state government and fulfills the instructions of the Cologne district government.

When will Lützerath be evacuated?

Around January 11, Lützerath will probably be evacuated by the police.

As early as January 2, emergency services will be on site and cordon off Lützerath: the occupied village can then no longer be approached by car, but can only be reached on foot.

What are the occupiers of Lützerath planning?

Most of the people who are still in Lützerath will no longer leave voluntarily.

They dug trenches and set up barricades.

“We will make it as difficult as possible for the police to even get into the camp.

We will set up barricades and build obstacles that are as high as possible, which will make it even more difficult for the police," says activist Mara Sauer, who lives in the Lützerath squatter camp and is spokesperson for the "Lützerath Lives" initiative.

The words of the “Ende Gelände” action group, which announced: “We will fight for Lützerath as we defended the Hambach Forest, sound more drastic.

Anyone who attacks Lützerath will pay a high price.” Meanwhile, a second protest camp is to be set up in neighboring Keyenberg for all those who are also demonstrating against the demolition of Lützerath, but want to stay on the legal side.

What does the police expect in Lützerath?

The protesters want to delay the eviction for as long as possible.

"We expect the operation to last four to six weeks," a spokeswoman for the Aachen police department told 24RHEIN.

The squatters in Lützerath would pursue a strategy similar to that of the activists in the Hambach Forest.

"Yes, there are definitely parallels to this," said the spokeswoman for the Aachen police.

(pen)

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-01-01

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